Australia (Main PPT)

7/29/2019 Australia (Main PPT)

1/39

Continent of Fragility and Hope

AUSTRALIA


2/39

Early History


3/39

They settlements were eventually scattered inMelbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Hobart.

South Australia- Good soil for farming in 1835

Economic Payoff:

Sealing and Whaling

Sheep- Pasteur land

Gold rush of 1851


4/39

Aborigines- stockmen to look after

sheep.


5/39

Australias Significance

MININGis the key to Australias economy and it also

provided the largest share of its export earnings. Mining

is also the key to Australias environmental history and

to its predicament.

Iron and coal (non-renewable) > Fisheries and forests(renewable resources)


6/39

Three features of the

AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENT

Australian soils

* nutrient

* salt levels

Availability of fresh water

Overseas trading partners & potentialenemies


7/39

SOILS


8/39

MOST UNPRODUCTIVE CONTINENT

SOIL PROBLEMS > WATER PROBLEMS


9/39

Three major processes of

R E N E W A L

Volcanic eruptions

Advances & retreats of glaciersstrips

Slow uplift of crust


10/39

Low average productivity ofAustralian soils

= mining of their soils

= high fertilizer & fuel costs


11/39

Economic consequences

Australian farmers VS overseas

growers

Agroforestry/tree agriculture

Overfishing


12/39

Another problem

SALINITY OF THE SOIL


13/39

WATER


14/39

Most areas in Australia are useless for agricultural or

pastoral meanings due to water problems-> desert image

Low average values and unpredictability of Australias rainfall->depending on ENSO( El Nido Southern Oscillation)

water problems make Australian agriculture expensive and

uneconomic

wheat as most valuable agricultural product because of

predictable rainfall in the South

climate change is supporting the advantage of predictable rain,while winter rains decline while summer rains increased


15/39

DISTANCE


16/39

Within temperate zones

Tyranny distance

External Internal


17/39

AUSTRALIA


18/39Trade and Immigration


19/39

Products

Agricultural

Wool

WheatWine

Chemical free beef

Sheep Population = 14 per Person


20/39

Over the last half century Australia's

exports have shifted from predominantly

agricultural products to minerals,

while its trade partners have shifted from

Europe to Asia.


21/39

Immigration


22/39

With an area similar to that of the U.S., Australia

has a much smaller population (currently about

20 million)

The Australian environment is far less productive

and can support far fewer people.

perceived underpopulation


23/39Land Degradation Cl f i


24/39

Clearance of native

vegetation

Australia clears more native vegetation per

year than any other First World country

Rotting and burning of the bulldozed

vegetation


25/39

Overgrazing by sheep

Sheep graze down the vegetation faster than it can

regrow

maximum stocking rates for sheep

Mining the crop of grass, rather than treating it as a

potentially renewable resource.


26/39

Rabbits

Remove vegetation as do sheep

Reducing the pasturage available to sheep

and cattle

Expensive measures to control rabbit

populations.


27/39

Soil nutrient exhaustion

Low initial nutrient content of soil

Unsustainable farming methods


28/39

Soil erosion

Erosion of topsoil

Runoff of soil via rivers into the sea

Damage to Great Barrier Reef


29/39

Man-made droughts

Direct exposure of bare land to the sun

making the soil hotter and drier.

Hot and dry soil conditions impede plant

growth in much the same way as does a

natural drought


30/39

Weeds

Defined as plants of low value to farmers,

either because they are less palatable (or

totally unpalatable) to sheep and cattle than, orbecause they compete with useful crops.

3,000 plant species are considered weeds in

Australia today and cause economic losses of

about $2 billion per year.


31/39

Salinization

Irrigation Salinization

Dryland Salinization

500 years to flush mobilized salt out of the

ground


32/39

Render farmlands less productive or useless to

grow crops and raise livestock.

Salt is carried into city drinking water supplies.

Damages caused by salt corroding

infrastructure


33/39Other Environmental Problems


34/39

Least area covered by forests

*Double irony


35/39


36/39

WATER PROBLEM:*quantity

*accessibility*use

*quality


37/39

Marine overfishing Low production of freshwater

fisheries Heavy reliance on ship

transportation Marine pests


38/39


39/39

Signs of Hope and Change

Changing attitudes

Rethinking by Australias Farmers

Private Initiatives

Radical governmental Initiatives

Documents

Australia (Main PPT)